Firestorm Forever: A Dragonfire Novel (61 page)

“My sister lives there now. Why?”

Marco indicated the binder, then put it back down. “Welcome to the Holiday Inn.” He put his hands on his hips and surveyed the room. “At 3:42 in the afternoon.”

“That’s an incredible coincidence, that we should end up where Sam is,” Jac said. “Did you plan it that way?”

Marco shook his head just as blue-green light flashed around the perimeter of the room. She saw that Marco was watching it as well, and when it disappeared, their gazes met. She had about a million questions, but decided to start with the most obvious.

“So,” he mused. “I didn’t imagine your effect upon the darkfire.” He fixed her with an intent look. “And now it’s taking direction from you.”

“I didn’t direct anything.”

“Not consciously maybe.”

“Is that how we got here?”

“I didn’t choose this place.” His eyes twinkled unexpectedly. “If I was going to recover in a hotel and possibly seduce you, I’d choose a more upscale place. Maybe with a great view, like that cabin in Australia.” He moved to the window. “We’re in a three-star hotel, at best, in a suburban business park.” Marco’s expression made his view of that clear.

“How can you spontaneously manifest elsewhere? You’re not the Wyvern or a
Slayer
who’s drunk the Elixir.”

“Darkfire,” he said, as if that single word answered everything, and headed into the washroom. By the time Jac had scrambled to her feet and followed him, Marco had peeled off his jacket and shirt. He was checking out the burns on his own back in the mirror.

Jac inhaled, knowing she’d never been with a guy who looked so good naked. He was all muscle, tanned and toned, perfectly proportioned with broad shoulders and narrow hips. There was just a little bit of dark hair on his chest, and she caught herself ogling his physique instead of his wounds.

“Your skin doesn’t look too bad,” Jac said, refraining from suggesting that he drop his jeans so she could do a thorough survey. “I thought you would have worse burns.”

“I think I did. You were right about the Dracontias.” He gave her a slow smile. “Good thinking.”

Jac felt herself blush. “Thanks.”

“You’re pretty resourceful with this dragon hunting.”

“How so?” Jac was fishing and she didn’t care.

“The flares were a stroke of brilliance. The candle in Jorge’s eye was a good tactical choice, as was milking him for information beforehand. And making me swallow the Dracontias probably saved my life.”

“And mine.”

“Ah, I knew there had to be a reason.” Marco was watching her in the mirror, amusement in his gaze. “Are you just lulling me into complacency so you can finish me off later, when my guard is down?”

Jac frowned. She had a definite sense he was teasing her and couldn’t figure out why. “I said I didn’t plan to kill you.”

“Which isn’t quite the same as saying you
won’t
kill me.”

Jac folded her arms across her chest and studied him. “You’re in a really good mood for a man talking about his own demise.”

“Am I?”

“You are. What’s changed?”

Marco was rummaging in the basket of toiletries on the vanity. He chose a disposable razor and opened a package of soap, then turned on the tap. “Why shouldn’t I be in a good mood? I just rescued my mate from peril, was healed by her intervention, and thumped a
Slayer
hard enough that he’ll be down and out for a while.” He winked at her in the mirror. “Plus I’ve enjoying the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of having a firestorm.” He began to shave as she watched.

“I thought I annoyed you.”

“And you intrigue me.” He wagged the razor at her. “Don’t forget that part.”

Jac knew her eyes were narrowed in suspicion. “Still, you seem pleased with yourself.”

Marco spun and came to her, looking down at her with undeniable pride. His right cheek was still lathered with soap, but the gleam in his eyes and the proximity of his bare chest ensured that Jac couldn’t find him anything but impossibly sexy.

“You saved my life,” he said softly.

Jac saw where this was going. “Because I had to, in order to save my own life.”

“Is that all?” Marco returned to his shaving, apparently not expecting an answer. “Only a
Slayer
who had drunk the Elixir or one of two
Pyr
could have gotten you out of that room.”

Jac sat on the vanity. “Two
Pyr
?”

“Me or Rafferty. We’re the only ones who can spontaneously manifest elsewhere. For me, it’s a darkfire thing. I’m not sure with Rafferty.”

“Looks like you were my only shot, since I don’t know Rafferty.”

“Sure you do. You shot him at Easter Island.” Marco spoke with such nonchalance that she knew it was important.

“Is that one of the reasons I tick you off?”

“Oh yeah.” He nodded easy acknowledgment, and she saw a familiar glitter in his eyes. “It’s a gift.”

“You know Rafferty then?”

“He would be the only
Pyr
to whom I owe anything,” Marco said. “He was my guardian and my defender. He’s the grandson of the
Pyr
who saved my life and hid me from
Slayers
. He awakened me and it’s entirely possible that he loves me like a son.” Marco met her gaze in the mirror again and his eyes were very dark. “I certainly love him like a father.”

Ouch.

“Sorry,” Jac said, meaning it. “This whole good-dragon-bad-dragon thing is a bit new to me.” Marco didn’t say anything. “What happened to him?”

“He’s in a coma, near death.” Marco’s voice hardened. “And it’s my fault.”

“But I did it.”

“You only had the chance because I underestimated you.”

Again, his tone was a clue to his thoughts. He spoke more softly than she might have expected. “How so?”

“You shouldn’t have been able to shoot the darkfire crystal. Only one other human has ever done it, and she’s a Firedaughter.”

“A what?”

“An Elemental Witch. All flames respond to the call of a Firedaughter.”

Jac folded her arms across her chest. She was watching the dancing flames of the firestorm on her own skin, enjoying the heat they kindled in her body and the sense of intimacy she felt with Marco. It made her feel alive. Tingly. Filled with temptation and possibility. “I’m not a Firedaughter.”

“I know.”

“So, how could I fire the crystal?”

“I don’t know.” Marco had finished shaving. He rinsed his face and wiped it off, running a hand over his chin to check his job. “I’ll put that in the intriguing column.”

“But the fact that I did it in the annoying column.”

“Pretty much. I don’t think anyone or anything has ever made me so angry.”

Jac swallowed. At least he hadn’t slaughtered her for that. Her gaze slid to the Dracontias and hope flared in her heart. “Maybe we can make it right,” she said. “We could take the Dracontias to Rafferty. It would heal him.”

Marco considered the idea for a long moment, then shook his head. “No. We have to trust the darkfire.”

“What does that mean?”

“It brought us here. If Rafferty needed the Dracontias, the darkfire would have taken us to him. He’s not in Virginia.”

“But my sister is!” Jac said with rising excitement. “And she’s looking for a cure for the Seattle virus, the one that Jorge spread.”

Marco nodded with satisfaction. “Then the stone is for her. That’s why the darkfire brought us here. It’s probably the key to finding the antidote that will undo some of the damage.”

“Because the
Pyr
defend the treasures of the earth, including humans,” Jac recalled from the book.

“Exactly.” Marco met her gaze in the mirror, and Jac felt the simmer between them grow hotter. It was impossible to not think about sex.

And the inevitable result of satisfying a firestorm.

“Why would you want me to have your son anyway? I might raise him with a conflicted view of himself.”

Marco gave her a hard look. “
Pyr
don’t have conflicted views of themselves.”

“Your kind might not even survive the year.”

“Not if you have anything to say about it, you mean?”

“Well, not necessarily.”

He smiled quickly, but not so quickly that Jac didn’t see his triumphant expression.

“Jorge could finish you off,” she insisted. “Or some other force of nature.”

“Which just implies that opportunity shouldn’t be wasted.”

“We’re
not
satisfying the firestorm.” Jac didn’t feel nearly as certain of that as she hoped she sounded.

“That’s your opinion, I know.” He was maddeningly, infuriatingly calm.

“You know, I’m not the only one who both irritates and intrigues.”

Marco actually laughed. Jac didn’t think she’d ever heard him laugh out loud like that before, and she liked it. “Good. It means the darkfire is working for and against us.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“That darkfire has governed my life and darkfire has its sparks in my firestorm, too. Think about it: you’re the least likely candidate to be the destined mate of a
Pyr
. What are the odds of my having a firestorm with the one mortal woman on the planet sworn to wipe my kind from the face of the earth?”

“Pretty long, I’d think.”

“More than long. It’s completely improbable. It defies expectation and challenges assumptions, both yours and mine.” He seemed to find this reassuring.

“Like darkfire does,” Jac said and Marco nodded.

“Darkfire pushes and pulls, inverts situations and challenges us to see things in new ways. Like the way you fought Jorge and the
Slayers
. Like the way we both excite and get at each other. Darkfire is lighting our firestorm and making both of us reconsider what we believe to be true.”

“But that doesn’t change everything. I’m still not going to have your son.”

Marco smiled the smile of a man accepting a challenge. He turned a glittering glance on Jac, one that reminded her of what he was and also what they’d done before, one that dissolved her resistance and put her body on his side. The flames of the firestorm seemed to sizzle with greater heat.

“Which only means that I’m going to have to change your mind,” he murmured and Jac knew it wasn’t going to be as hard for him to succeed as she might have hoped.

She could be pregnant in moments.

She could be alone with a son on the way in six months, if the
Pyr
faced their final challenge and lost.

Or would he die, too? “Wait. If only
Slayers
survive the final battle, what happens to the sons of the
Pyr
?”

Marco paused. “No one knows. This has never happened before.”

“But if the
Pyr
lose…”

Marco was grim. “I’d rather think about us winning.”

“But if the
Pyr
lose, any son of a
Pyr
would have to either die, become
Slayer
or become fully human. Which would it be?”

He frowned and stared at the floor, considering. “I don’t think it’s possible to become
Slayer
without making a conscious choice to do so,” was what he finally said.

That still left two crappy options for any surviving child.

At least that was what Jac thought. Marco, however, thought of a third.

“They probably won’t have a chance to reach puberty, not if the
Slayers
triumph and eliminate all of us
Pyr
,” he said softly. “Slayers like Jorge would hunt down the survivors to ensure there was no chance of them ever becoming
Pyr
, much less trying to avenge the death of their fathers.”

“So, I’m supposed to conceive a son who will have a future like that?”

Marco’s eyes narrowed. “We’re going to win.”

Jac wasn’t so sure. She panicked and said the first thing that came to mind. “And you
have
to change my mind, right? Because the firestorm has to be satisfied, regardless of what I might think of it all?”

Marco eyed her with new wariness. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that I’m sick of being useful,” Jac said, surprised by the heat in her own tone. “I mean that I expected better of a
destined
partnership.” She folded her arms across her chest, feeling as if she’d bared her soul to him on a whim. Her voice dropped low. “I mean that when I have a child, I want it to be with a man who loves me for who I am and wants to be partners for the duration. I want that child to be an expression of love, not for me to be a means to an end.”

Marco looked away, and Jac feared he’d walk out and leave her behind. She had time to wonder whether she’d said too much.

But Marco nodded with resolve, then faced her, his eyes dark with intent. “Then I have work to do,” he murmured, a smile curving his lips. “I’d better get started.”

Their gazes locked and the firestorm flared. Jac guessed that between him and the firestorm, she really didn’t have a chance.

* * *

Brandon didn’t like leaving the kids alone any longer than necessary, but Liz was so agitated that this search had to be necessary. He flew her and Chandra back over Marco’s path to Uluru, following it by scent.